Instructions: This problem set asks you to apply what you've learned about food supply and demand, elasticities, and technological change, to understand some real-world issues (one historical the other contemporary.) Please wriite answers that are short and to the point.

1. With the onset of World War I, in 1915, the Russian Tsar drafted hundreds of thousands of soldiers from rural areas into the Russian army. This led to a 1% reduction in the agricultural labor force growing their staple crop (wheat) during the 1916 growing season.
2. Assume Russian farmers sold all the wheat they produced: what likely happens to their income? What happens to the relative income of urban people who do not produce wheat, only consume it?

1. The Tsar brings you in to advise him on what to d O about the food crisis. He wants to reduce the price of wheat and asks you to consider three policies (listed below.) For each policy, would the suggestion reduce the price of wheat, lead to a famine in rural Russia, or both. Explain your reasoning.
   1. Seize all the wheat farmers have stored up in their granaries to sell on the market.
   2. Set (and enforce) a national price for wheat that is 25% below the current market level price of wheat.
   3. Force farmers to work on government farms rather than their own farms to produce wheat for the government.

1. In West Africa there is a crop called fonio., Digitaria Exilis, that is very nutritious and grown and eaten by poor farmers. It is also considered a luxury good for the wealthy in Senegal, who serve it at fancy occasions (baptisms, marriages, etc.). Fonio is now gaining international acclaim in part due to a Senegalese chef in New York, Pierre Thiam. (See his TED talk on fonio hereLinks to an external site..) Chef Thiam hopes to make it the "next quinoa" by creating a big export market for fonio in the US.
   1. What happens to poor Senegalese farmers if there is a price increase of fonio due to increased demand for the crop?
   2. Do you think poor Senegalese farmers will eat more fonio or less fonio? What elasticities would you need to know about to figure this out?
   3. Fonio is a nutritional powerhouse that is especially high in iron. Let's say Senegalese fonio farmers decide to sell all their fonio for export to hip fonio eating New Yorkers and replace those calories in their own diet with corn, which has half as much iron as fonio. What are the potential nutritional consequences for Senegalese farmers? How might your answer be different if selling fonio doubled the farmers' incomes (hint Bennett's law would apply here).
   4. A team of UW researchers started a project to improve fonio seeds so that the yield (output per acre) would go up. If they succeed in making a higher yielding fonio seed variety, what are the likely effects on the supply and demand for fonio?

Ref: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/fonio#types (fonio)

https://www.ted.com/talks/pierre_thiam_a_forgotten_ancient_grain_that_could_help_africa_prosper?language=en (Ted)

It seems like you're presenting a lecture or class material related to markets, elasticities, supply curves, and agricultural production, with a focus on the implications for food supply and malnutrition. Here's a breakdown of the key points covered in your lecture:

1. **Introduction to Markets and Elasticities:** - Discussing concepts such as demand and supply curves, elasticities, and Bennett's law. - Explaining income elasticity of demand and its implications for different types of goods (normal goods, inferior goods, luxury goods). - Introducing Engel's law, which describes the relationship between wealth and spending on food.

2. **Trends in Food Production and Technology:** - Exploring historical trends in food prices and production from 1900 to the present. - Analyzing changes in commodity prices, with a focus on beef as an example. - Discussing factors influencing food production, such as technological advancements, inputs, and land use.

3. **Factors Influencing Agricultural Production:** - Examining strategies for increasing agricultural production, including technological innovations, access to capital, and market development. - Highlighting the role of research and development, access to credit, and market access in driving agricultural growth. - Exploring different technological advancements in agriculture, such as improved seeds, fertilizers, mechanization, and biological packages.

4. **Implications for Food Supply and Malnutrition:** - Discussing the relationship between agricultural production, food supply, and malnutrition. - Analyzing the impact of factors such as drought, food policy, international trade, and prices on malnutrition. - Exploring the socioeconomic factors influencing food consumption and human nutrition in different regions.

5. **Potential Solutions and Future Challenges:** - Considering potential solutions to alleviate hunger and malnutrition, including policies and interventions. - Highlighting the importance of understanding the complex interactions between food supply, demand, and socioeconomic factors in addressing malnutrition. - Acknowledging the challenges ahead, such as increasing agricultural yields sustainably and addressing environmental concerns.

In your lecture, you covered several key points related to production functions, fertilizer use, technological advancements, and their implications for food production and malnutrition. Here's a summary focusing on the highlighted learning objectives:

1. **Understanding Production Functions and Inputs:** - Explained the concept of production functions as a way to understand how inputs such as land, labor, machinery, seeds, and fertilizer contribute to agricultural outputs. - Discussed the diminishing marginal returns associated with increasing inputs, such as labor and fertilizer, using production function graphs.

2. **Technological Advancements and Yield Increases:** - Highlighted the role of technological advancements, particularly in fertilizer use, in increasing crop yields. - Demonstrated how fertilizer use can significantly boost crop yields, with examples from different regions of the world.

3. **Implications for Food Supply and Malnutrition:** - Linked increases in crop yields and agricultural production to improvements in food supply and potential reductions in malnutrition. - Addressed the complex factors influencing malnutrition, including food supply and demand dynamics, weather conditions, food policy, international trade, and prices.

4. **Regional Disparities and Technological Adoption:** - Illustrated regional disparities in agricultural practices and technological adoption, such as the contrast between human-powered farming in some African countries and mechanized farming in others. - Provided examples of technological advancements, such as better seeds, contributing to increased cereal production in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Overall, your lecture provided students with a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted issues surrounding food production, technological advancements, and their implications for addressing malnutrition globally. You effectively integrated theoretical concepts with real-world examples to enhance student comprehension and engagement with the material.

In today's lecture, we discussed the concept of production functions and their implications for food production, as well as the introduction of Golden Rice as a solution to combat vitamin A deficiency. Here's a summary highlighting the key points covered:

1. **Production Functions and Agricultural Inputs:** - Production functions illustrate how inputs such as land, labor, machinery, seeds, and fertilizer contribute to agricultural outputs. - These functions typically exhibit decreasing marginal returns, meaning that as more of one input is added, the additional output diminishes.

2. **Yields and Technological Advancements:** - Yields, measured as output per unit of land, have increased significantly over time due to technological advancements and improvements in agricultural practices. - Fertilizer use has played a crucial role in boosting crop yields, particularly in regions where it has been adopted extensively.

3. **Golden Rice and Micronutrient Enrichment:** - Golden Rice is a genetically engineered variety of rice designed to contain higher levels of vitamin A, aiming to address vitamin A deficiency, particularly prevalent in regions where rice is a staple food. - The controversy surrounding Golden Rice stems from concerns about genetic engineering and potential adverse effects, as well as challenges in consumer acceptance and market adoption.

4. **Implications for Malnutrition:** - The introduction of Golden Rice highlights the importance of addressing not only macronutrient deficiencies but also micronutrient deficiencies in combating malnutrition. - Understanding the match between food production and nutritional needs of populations is crucial for effective interventions to alleviate malnutrition.

In today's lecture, we delved deeper into the impacts of famines and discussed various factors affecting individuals and communities during food emergencies. Here's a summary highlighting the key points covered:

1. **Famine Impacts on Different Groups:** - Small-scale farmers and tenants or renters are among the most affected during famines, as their crops may fail, leading to loss of income and livelihood. - Landless agricultural workers, particularly in South Asian regions, face job losses due to factors like flooding and agricultural disruption.

2. **Levels of Food Emergencies:** - Famines are categorized into different levels, with level five indicating widespread deaths, while level four involves people selling off their assets to cope with food shortages.

3. **Entitlement Framework:** - The entitlement framework helps analyze how individuals' ability to access food is affected by various factors such as labor, production, trade, and transfers. - Understanding own labor, production, trade-based, and transfer entitlements provides insights into the dynamics of food access and vulnerability during crises.

4. **Market Dynamics:** - Market forces play a crucial role in determining food prices and availability during famines and crises. - Factors such as supply shocks, changes in demand, and income elasticity influence price fluctuations and food accessibility.

5. **Engel's Law and Bennett's Law:** - Engel's Law states that as income increases, the proportion of income spent on food decreases, providing insights into consumption patterns and poverty levels. - Bennett's Law describes how the types of food consumed change with income levels, highlighting shifts towards more nutrient-rich foods as income rises.

6. **Food Prices and Production Trends:** - Real food prices have remained relatively flat over time, indicating that food production has kept pace with population growth. - Understanding trends in food prices and production helps assess food security and vulnerability to malnutrition.